Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

"what?"

Gao Hai collapsed to the ground at that moment, his mind reeling from the increasingly intense sense of disorientation.

She seemed to hear Maki calling her name, Chika's panicked cries, and Kaguya's incredulous murmurs.

What... happened...

It felt like waking up from a dream.

Everything is becoming increasingly blurry.

At the last moment, I seemed to see two tiny, transparent hands reaching out towards me, about to disappear.

But when Gao Hai tried to reach out and shake hands, he found that he could no longer see his own hands.

wow-

A security guard uniform fell to the ground.

The person wearing clothes had vanished without a trace.

Gao Hai opened his eyes.

I awoke in complete darkness.

He smelled the stench of decay.

He sensed the intense malice lurking in the darkness, a chilling and suffocating terror.

He also heard the sound of a foul-smelling, rusty drop falling from above him.

tick-

It felt incredibly real, like the touch on his forehead.

The hazy dream has ended.

In the cold, dark cave where he was unable to move and his body was firmly stuck, Gao Hai had awakened from his dream.

Chapter 51: How far are you from death right now?

It was just a dream.

At that moment, Gao Hai understood what had happened.

He did not leave the blood vessels.

Upon discovering the fork in the road, he was unable to retreat immediately and was instantly seized by the core obsession within his [blood vessels], dragged into the fork.

From that moment on, he was trapped in a deadly situation from which he could not escape.

The reason he was able to continue moving after that, climb out of the [blood vessel], cross the cliff and slide with Fujiwara Chika, and finally even take the last step to escape the Red Nut Gray Hole and successfully send them out of the instance was because he was dreaming.

Dream.

Gao Hai understood this core obsession, this strange manifestation of ability hidden in the [blood vessels].

It will drag players who violate the rules and enter the [Vessel] into it, but... it won't kill them. After pulling them into a cave area where they can no longer move, it won't kill them there; instead, it will give them a dream. In this dream, the player will walk out of the [Vessel] unharmed and continue their actions. As long as the player remains within the Red Nut Gray Hole area and isn't killed by other anomalies, the dream won't end. The player in the dream will behave like a normal player; their obsession items and various other items can be used and consumed normally. Of course, what's consumed is what the player already possesses; new items won't appear out of thin air.

However, if these dreaming players actually reach the exit, the place where they can escape the Red Nut Gray Hole, then the dream will end, and the players will return to the crowded cave, back to the place where they were trapped and unable to move.

Just like now, just like what Gao Hai is experiencing at this moment.

"Uh……"

Difficulty breathing.

My chest was being squeezed from the front, from the back, and from the left and right.

Intense pain pressed on his breathing. Gao Hai could feel that at least four of his ribs were broken. The place was so narrow that it directly crushed his bones. The broken bones further compressed his lungs, making every breath a torment.

His hands were almost unable to move; his upper arms were stuck in the low rock face, and only the area above his forearms was slightly larger enough to move normally.

He could barely lift his head a little, but it was basically completely blocked, and there was even a rock pressing against his throat, further obstructing his breathing.

"Uh huh..."

He was pinned down by his chest and abdomen, unable to move even for a second.

His legs were also stuck, unable to move.

The rock wall was like a coffin tailor-made for Gao Hai, trapping him in this place and preventing him from moving an inch.

In the boundless darkness, he could only hear his own labored breathing.

And that soft, dripping sound.

tick-

Another drop of foul-smelling liquid landed on his head.

Gao Hai struggled to lift his head and look upwards.

He couldn't see anything in the darkness.

But he knew that something existed up there.

In this spot where he was stuck upside down in the cave, above him, something remained silent, always right in front of him.

He stretched out his only arm, which he could barely move, and reached forward to touch it.

He touched dry skin and a sticky liquid.

I touched the nose...and the mouth...the eyes...the hair...

are people.

A person, head down, stuck in the cave just like himself.

No...that's not right...

The power of blessing responded to Gao Hai at this moment.

That's not human.

That was strange.

Moreover, that is the core obsession, existing inside the Red Nut Gray Hole, the second core obsession existing here after the blood-stained white dress.

This thing is right in front of me, no more than half a meter away.

Hey, what's going on here?

Gao Hai was stunned for a long time, and even managed to adjust his mindset in a short period of time. He was prepared to be killed on the spot and then enjoy the new and bizarre way to die.

But nothing happened.

He waited for a while, but nothing happened.

The core obsession of the instance, the most terrifying and bizarre existence in the Red Nut Gray Hole, is now as still as a real corpse. No matter how much Gao Hai pokes its face, it remains unmoved, completely lacking the ferocity and terror that a core obsession should possess.

So, what's going on here?

Gao Hai couldn't quite understand what was going on with this thing.

Regardless, Princess Zhenfei and the others have now been successfully sent away.

Now I'm all alone here.

We need to figure out how to get out of here.

Gao Hai took a deep breath and tried to move, but found that no matter what he did, he couldn't move an inch and was completely stuck here.

Could it be that this bizarre method of killing is to trap people here until they starve or die of thirst?

This idea sent chills down Gao Hai's spine.

No, we have to do something.

"call……"

With labored breathing, Gao Hai took a scalpel from his watch.

A scalpel that can easily cut through anything should theoretically be able to cut through these rock walls.

when!

After the crisp sound, Gao Hai discovered that the thing had bounced off the rock face.

Why can't I cut it?

Could it be that this cave is formed by this strange force?

Gao Hai began to have a vague sense that something was wrong.

He then tried cutting open his clothes with a scalpel, creating a flaw in his identity as an "explorer" and preventing him from perfectly portraying the role, hoping to see if this would produce a different effect. However, after struggling for a while, although one sleeve was indeed cut open, he remained stuck in place, unable to move, and nothing else happened during the process.

Gao Hai began to realize that the current situation might be even more terrible than he had anticipated.

He sheathed the scalpel, took out the blood-stained scissors, and tried again to break through the rock wall, but failed.

He tried to use a scalpel and scissors to destroy the strange corpse stuck on him, but failed again. The blades felt like they were cutting into slime; he could only feel a soft, yielding sensation, and the blades would bounce back.

After a brief hesitation, Gao Hai took out the faceless head, deciding to let it kill him to end this loop. But he couldn't get it out; the area trapping him was simply too narrow, and the head couldn't be removed. This was also the first time Gao Hai discovered that this broken watch would actually reject his idea when the current environment couldn't accommodate the item he wanted to take out, preventing him from doing so.

This piece of junk actually has terrain detection?

Finally, he tried the rescue team badge, which Gao Hai couldn't wear on his chest. He tried putting it on his sleeve, but that didn't work. So, in a desperate move, Gao Hai pierced his own flesh with a pin and threaded it onto his wrist. This time, he successfully summoned the rescue team uniform. However, even with his greatly enhanced physical abilities, Gao Hai was still unable to move and couldn't escape his current situation. Not only that, he discovered he still couldn't summon rescue team members. The reason seemed to be that one of them had been destroyed and needed time to regenerate before he could summon them again.

Unfortunately, the previous rescue team members were stopped before they could even reach the gentle slope, and I myself ended up in this place because of the "dream awakening," so I couldn't try again.

tick-

Gao Hai blinked and managed to move his head slightly, but the drop of liquid still landed on his head, making his forehead wet again.

That seemed to be blood, blood flowing from the thing stuck in his head.

Something has to be done.

We can't stay stuck here forever.

Gao Hai struggled again, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move even the slightest distance.

"Hoo... Uh..."

Once again, my head spun, and I saw stars.